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About me

Mexican-American journalist who has covered Mexico for many years, and is currently the Mexico City bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News. He specializes in covering the drug wars and the U.S.-Mexico border, writing stories on such topics as drug cartels and organized crime, corruption among police and government officials, and the spread of drug cartels into U.S. cities.

Midnight in Mexico- The Book

In the last six years, more than 80,000 people have been killed or disappeared in the Mexican drug war, where trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business. In a country where the powerful are rarely scrutinized, noted Mexican American journalist Alfredo Corchado refuses to shrink from reporting on government corruption, murders in Juarez, or the ruthless drug cartels of Mexico. A paramilitary group spun off from the Gulf cartel, the Zetas, controls key drug routes in the north of the country. In 2007, Corchado received a tip that he could be their next target—and he had 24 hours to find out if the threat was true.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE – A family tragedy sends the Corchados from Mexico to California’s Central Valley, searching for greener pastures. Upon arrival, that’s hardly what they find. But some years later, a deal involving a 1978 Camaro sets the oldest son on a path to unlikely success. Now he’s risking his life every day to get the story out. Alfredo Corchado is the author of the book Midnight in Mexico.

Felix Contreras and I both loved Corchado’s moving book, so we invited him to join us on Alt.Latino. On this episode, we discuss Midnight In Mexico, the music that inspired its author, and the state of the Mexican drug war today. Even if you haven’t followed the situation in Mexico, there’s a relatable emotional thread for so many of us immigrants and first-generation Americans. It’s understandable to romanticize the motherland, or at least want to go back and study where you came from. I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Corchado as friends, and we’ve agreed that one of the worst possible heartbreaks is the pain of watching the place you came from, the place you hold tenderly in your memories, descend into chaos.